Pivotable cover for sliding tray and sliding tray including the cover

ABSTRACT

A sliding tray is configured to support one or more optical communications modules and includes a body portion having one or more mounting locations for the one or more optical communications modules, a trough projecting from the body portion and configured to support optical fibers connected to the one or more optical communications modules, and a cover pivotably connected to the tray for selectively covering the trough.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.13/468,138 filed May 10, 2012, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application No. 61/485,670, filed May 13, 2011, the contentsof each application are herein incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed toward a pivotable cover for a slidingtray and toward a sliding tray having a pivotable cover, and morespecifically, toward a pivotable cover for covering the trough of anequipment rack tray while leaving side openings for cables to exit thetrough and toward a sliding tray mountable in a shelf and having such acover.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is known to mount electrical and/or optical telecommunication moduleson sliding trays in a shelf or on a rack or other similar support. Thetrays may be individually mounted on the support or may comprise part ofa shelf with a housing for supporting the trays which housing mounts tothe rack or support. Such trays generally comprise a body portion forsupporting the modules and a projecting trough for supporting cables or“patch cords” that are plugged into jacks in the modules. The trough mayalso include retaining rings to help organize and guide individual onesor bundles of the cables or cords.

It is often desirable to space openings in the modules closely toincrease the density of the patch cords that can be connected thereto.This leaves very little room on the modules themselves to label themodules or their individual jacks. It can therefore be difficult todetermine where a patch cord should be inserted or how a particularpatch cord is connected merely by looking at the patch cords andmodules. Moreover, even with the use of retaining rings, and especiallywhen a large number of patch cords are present, it is possible to snagor pinch various ones of the patch cords when sliding trays into and outof a shelf or support, either on the tray being moved or on an adjacenttray. It would therefore be desirable to provide a sliding tray thatboth reduces the likelihood of snagging cords while at the same timeprovides additional surface area for labeling the modules, jacks and/orthe patch cords connected thereto.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

These problems and others are addressed by embodiments of the presentinvention, a first aspect of which comprises a sliding tray that isconfigured to support one or more optical communications modules. Thetray includes a body portion having one or more mounting locations forthe one or more optical communications modules, a trough projecting fromthe body portion and configured to support optical fibers connected tothe one or more optical communications modules, and a cover pivotablyconnected to the tray for selectively covering the trough.

Another aspect of the invention comprises a shelf with a shelf openingand a plurality of trays mounted for sliding movement relative to theshelf opening. Each of the trays has a body portion with a plurality ofmounting locations that are adapted to receive an optical communicationsmodule and a trough that projects from the body portion for supportingoptical fibers connected to the optical communications modules. Thetrays also each have a pivotable cover configured to selectively coverthe trough. Each of the plurality of trays is configured to slidebetween a stowed position, where the trough is located a first distancefrom the shelf opening, and an extended position where the trough islocated a second distance greater than the first distance from the shelfopening. A cover of a first one of the plurality of sliding trays issubstantially prevented from opening by a bottom surface of an adjacentsliding tray of the plurality of sliding trays when the first one of thesliding trays is in the stowed position.

A further aspect of the invention comprises a pivotable cover for afiber-supporting trough of a sliding tray that is configured to supportone or more optical communications modules. The cover has a main panelhaving a front, a rear and first and second sides. A front wall dependsfrom the front of the main panel, and first and second parallel sidewalls extend rearwardly of the main panel rear. The front wall is spacedfrom each of the first and second side walls by a gap. The front wallcomprises a labeling surface, and there is a lens mounted to the frontwall.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other aspects and features of the invention will be betterunderstood after a reading of the following detailed descriptiontogether with the attached drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a shelf comprising a plurality ofsliding trays each configured to support a plurality of communicationsmodules and each having a trough protected by a cover.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the shelf of FIG. 1 showing one of thetrays in an extended position with its cover closed.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the shelf of FIG. 1 showing one of thetrays in an extended position with its cover open and also showingcommunications modules mounted on the trays.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of one of the trays of the shelf of FIG. 1with an open cover.

FIG. 5 is top plan view of the cover of one of the trays of the shelf ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a front elevational view of the cover of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a bottom plan view of the cover of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 is a side elevational view of the cover of FIG. 5.

FIG. 9 is a sectional side elevational view taken along line IX-IX inFIG. 6.

FIG. 10 is a side elevational detail view of region X in FIG. 4.

FIG. 11 is an exploded perspective view of the cover of FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention now is described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which embodiments of theinvention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in manydifferent forms and should not be construed as limited to theembodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided sothat this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fullyconvey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.

Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. In the figures, thethickness of certain lines, layers, components, elements or features maybe exaggerated for clarity.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention.Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientificterms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by oneof ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will befurther understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly useddictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that isconsistent with their meaning in the context of the specification andrelevant art and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overlyformal sense unless expressly so defined herein. Well-known functions orconstructions may not be described in detail for brevity and/or clarity.

As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or”includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associatedlisted items. As used herein, phrases such as “between X and Y” and“between about X and Y” should be interpreted to include X and Y. Asused herein, phrases such as “between about X and Y” mean “between aboutX and about Y.” As used herein, phrases such as “from about X to Y” mean“from about X to about Y.”

It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “on”,“attached” to, “connected” to, “coupled” with, “contacting”, etc.,another element, it can be directly on, attached to, connected to,coupled with or contacting the other element or intervening elements mayalso be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being,for example, “directly on”, “directly attached” to, “directly connected”to, “directly coupled” with or “directly contacting” another element,there are no intervening elements present. It will also be appreciatedby those of skill in the art that references to a structure or featurethat is disposed “adjacent” another feature may have portions thatoverlap or underlie the adjacent feature.

Spatially relative terms, such as “under”, “below”, “lower”, “over”,“upper”, “lateral”, “left”, “right” and the like, may be used herein forease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship toanother element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. It willbe understood that the spatially relative terms are intended toencompass different orientations of the device in use or operation inaddition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if thedevice in the figures is inverted, elements described as “under” or“beneath” other elements or features would then be oriented “over” theother elements or features. The device may be otherwise oriented(rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the descriptors ofrelative spatial relationships used herein interpreted accordingly.

FIG. 1 shows a rack 10 formed from two equipment rails 12 that define afront opening 14 in which one or more shelves 16 can be mounted byconnecting flanges 18 on the shelves 16 to the rails 12. The shelves 16comprise a top wall 20 and first and second side walls 22 that includestructures for supporting a plurality of trays 24 for sliding movementwith respect to the shelf 16 and the front opening 14 of the rack 10.The structures may be slots (not illustrated) for receiving edges of thetrays 24 or, as illustrated in FIG. 2, drawer slides 26 that cooperatewith the side edges of the trays 24 to allow sliding movement of thetrays 24 into and out of the shelf 16 in the manner of conventionaldrawers. The trays 24 may be provided with detents (not illustrated) toselectively hold each tray 24 in a stowed position or an extendedposition relative to the opening 14. Stops 25, in the form ofspring-biased plungers, are provided at the rear of each tray 24 tolimit the rearward movement of the trays 24 in the shelf 16. It maysometimes be necessary to access the trays 24 from the rear of the rack10, and when the stops 25 are displaced, each tray 24 can be pushedfurther into the shelf 16 so that a greater portion of the tray 24 isaccessible from the rear of the rack 10.

Each of the trays 24 comprises a body portion 28 having a plurality ofmounting locations 30 for mounting communications modules 32,illustrated in FIG. 3, and a trough 34 that extends from the bodyportion 28 for supporting optical cables such as patch cords 36connected to jacks 33 in the communications modules 32. A plurality ofretaining rings 38 are mounted on the trough 34 for organizing andguiding the patch cords 36. The troughs 34 may comprise solid panels(not illustrated) or, as illustrated in FIG. 4, have a plurality ofopenings 40, or, as illustrated in FIG. 3, be defined by a plurality offingers 42 projecting from the body portion 28. The particular structureof the trough 34 is not critical as long as it is capable of supportingthe patch cords 36 that leave the communications modules 32 as they exitto one side or the other of the shelf 16. The trough 34 includes anouter edge 44, a first side 46 and a second side 48. The retaining rings38 have tops 50 and front edges 52 facing toward and/or aligned with theouter edge 44 of the troughs 34.

With continued reference to FIG. 4, the body portion 28 also includesfirst and second upstanding supports 54 located near a junction 57 ofthe body portion 28 and the trough 34 which supports 54 each include anopening 56 for pivotably supporting a cover 58. As illustrated in FIGS.5-7 and 11, the cover 58 includes a main panel 60 which main panel 60has a bottom surface 61, a front edge 62, a rear edge 64 and first andsecond side edges 66. First and second side walls 68 generallyperpendicular to the cover main panel 60 extend from the side edges 66of the main panel 60 away from the cover rear edge 64. A front wall 70depends from the front edge 62 of the cover main panel 60 and includes alabeling surface 72 and openings 74 for receiving the mounting tabs 76of one or more lens elements 78. The width of the front wall 70 may beless than the width of the rear edge 64 so that the cover tapers towardits front. A gap 80, illustrated in FIG. 8, extends between the frontwall 70 and each of the first and second side walls 68. Each of thefirst and second side walls 68 includes a shaft 82 for connecting thecover 58 to the first and second upstanding supports 54 and a stop wall83. The shafts 82 are coaxial and face each other from the facing innersurfaces 84 of the side walls 68. The stop wall 83, as illustrated inFIG. 4, contacts the top of the upstanding wall 54 when the cover 58 isin the open position to limit movement of the cover 58 to the verticalorientation.

The distance between the facing inner surfaces 84 of the first andsecond side walls 68 of the cover 58 is approximately the same as thedistance between the first and second upstanding supports 54. The cover58 is connected to the tray 24 by placing the first and second sidewalls 68 of the cover 58 on the first and second upstanding supports 54and flexing the first and second side walls 68 of the cover 58 away fromeach other and inserting the shafts 82 into the openings 56 on thesupports 54. The resiliency of the first and second side walls 68 holdsthe facing inner surfaces 84 of the side walls 68 against the upstandingsupports 54 and holds the shafts 82 in the openings 56 when thesidewalls 68 are released. Mounted in this manner, the cover 58 can bepivoted between open and closed positions relative to the tray 24 asdiscussed below.

Preferably, the shafts 82 are generally U-shaped as illustrated in FIGS.9 and 10 and include a notch 86. The openings 56 include first andsecond detents 88, 90 configured to cooperate with the notches 86 on theshafts 82 to selectively hold the cover 58 in the open and closedpositions. The first detent 88 is provided in the opening 56 on the sideof the opening closest to the body portion 28 of the tray 24, and thesecond detent 90 is provided at the portion of the opening 56 closest tothe outer edge 44 of the trough 34 of the tray 24. When the cover 58 isin the closed position, illustrated in FIG. 2, the first detent 88 isreceived in the notch 86 of the shaft 82, holding the cover in thisposition. In order to shift the cover to the open position, illustratedin FIG. 4, force is applied to lift the cover which rotates the shaft 82in the opening 56, clockwise as viewed in FIG. 10, and moves the notch86 off the first detent 88 and toward the second detent 90. When thecover is fully open, the second detent 90 is located in the notch 86 tohold the cover 58 in this open or raised position. The amount of forcerequired to shift the cover 58 back to the closed position is greaterthan the force provided by the weight of the cover 58, and thus thecover 58 remains in a raised position until a user applies sufficientforce thereto to force the notch 86 off the second detent 90.Alternately, shafts (not illustrated) could be provided on theupstanding supports 54 that would cooperate with openings (notillustrated) in the side walls 68, to support the cover 58 in a similarmanner. It may also be possible to rely on the wall 83 engaging the topof the upstanding support 54 to support the cover 58 in the verticalposition without the use of the first and second detents 88, 90;however, without the first and second detents 88, 90, only a small forcewill be required to move the cover 58 from the open to the closedposition.

In the closed position, the main panel 60 of the cover 58 overlies thetops 50 of the retaining rings 38, and the front wall 70 of the cover 58covers the front edges 52 of the retaining rings 38 with the first andsecond side walls 68 of the cover 58 extending generally parallel to thetrough 34. The gaps 80 on the first and second side edges 66 of thecover main panel 60 are located at the first side 46 and the second side48 of the trough 34 and provide a space for the patch cords 36 to exitthe trough 34. The side edges 66 of the cover 58 and the first andsecond sides 46, 48 of the trough define a further guiding structure forthe patch cords 36. Covered in this manner, the likelihood of snaggingthe patch cords 36 when the trays 24 are moved between stowed andextended positions is also reduced.

In the open position, illustrated in FIG. 3, the first and second sidewalls 68 of the cover extend generally perpendicular to the trough 34,and the distance between the rear edge 64 of the main panel 60 and thetray 24 leaves a space exposing the communications modules 32 of thattray, thereby allowing the patch cords 36 to be connected to and removedfrom the modules 32 on the tray 24.

The cover 58 of a tray 24 can only be shifted into the open positionillustrated in FIG. 4 when that tray 24 is pulled out of the shelf 16into the extended position, the position of the topmost tray 24 in FIG.2. When the trays 24 are in the stowed or retracted positions of FIG. 1,either a higher tray 24 or the top wall 20 of the shelf 16 (removed forillustration purposes in FIG. 2) prevents the shifting of the cover 58to the open position.

It is becoming increasingly common to manufacture communications modules32 to hold a high density of patch cords 36 and to allow the modules 32to be mounted close together to increase the number of modules 32 thatcan be accommodated by a given space in a shelf 16. Therefore the spacesbetween the jacks 33 on the front of the communications modules 32 aresmall, and the jacks 33 may be located very close to outer edges of thefront of the modules 32. This leaves little room on the communicationsmodules 32 themselves for labels that identify either the particularcommunications modules 32 or their jacks 33. The present inventionprovides a plurality of labeling surfaces for identifying both themodules 32 and the individual jacks 33 on the modules 32. First, thebottom surface 61 of the cover main panel 60 includes a number of modulelabeling areas 92 equal in number to the number of mounting locations 30on the body portion 28 of the tray 24. As seen in FIG. 3, these modulelabeling areas 92 can be used to identify the modules 32 accessiblebelow each of the module labeling areas 92 when the cover 58 is in theopen position.

Next, the front wall 70 of the cover 58 comprises a jack labelingsurface 72 on which information can be provided to identify the jacks 33that lie directly behind the jack labeling surface 72 when the cover 58is closed. The labels (not illustrated) that are mounted on this jacklabeling surface 72 are preferably protected by a lens 78 havingmounting tabs 76 that are removably insertable into the openings 74 inthe jack labeling surface 72; however, the lens can be attached to thelabeling surface 72 in other manners. Separate lenses 78 can be providedfor separate labeling surface regions 72 a, 72 b, 72 c and 72 d asillustrated in FIG. 11, and/or the lenses 78 themselves may include aplurality of lens elements associated with each of the labeling surfaceregions 72 a, 72 b, 72 c and 72 d. Alternately, a single lens 78 may beprovided that covers substantially the entire jack labeling surface 72.If the lenses 78 do not extend all the way to the edges of the jacklabeling surface 72, end caps 94 may be provided on either side of thejack labeling surface 72 to give the front wall 70 of the cover 58 aneven appearance.

While the front wall 70 of the cover 58 is not easily visible when thecover 58 is in its open position, a person accessing the patch cords 36and/or jacks 33 in the communications modules 32 may either view thelabeling surface 72 before opening the cover and note, for example, thathe needs to remove a plug from the third jack in the top row based onthe indicia on the labeling surface 72 or, alternately, the cover 58 maybe held in a partially open position, at a 45 degree angle to the tray24, for example, to allow both the labeling surface 72 and the jacks 33to be viewed at the same time while a decision regarding which plug orjack to access is made. Beneficially, the cover 58 reduces the need tolabel the small surfaces of the modules 32 around the jacks 33 and atthe same time reduces the possibility of the patch cords 36 beingpinched or snagged as the trays 24 are moved.

The present invention has been described herein in terms of a preferredembodiment. Modifications and additions to this embodiment will becomeapparent to those of ordinary skill in the relevant art upon a readingof the foregoing disclosure. It is intended that all such modificationsand additions comprise a part of the present invention to the extentthey fall within the scope of the several claims appended hereto.

What is claimed is:
 1. A sliding tray configured to support one or moreoptical communications modules comprising: a body portion having one ormore mounting locations for the one or more optical communicationsmodules; a trough projecting from a front of the body portion andconfigured to support optical fibers connected to the one or moreoptical communications modules; and a cover pivotably connected to thetray and selectively pivotable between an open position providing accessto the trough and a closed position covering the trough, wherein saidcover includes a main panel having a front edge, a rear edge and firstand second side edges with a front wall depending from the front edge ofthe main panel, wherein the cover is connected to the tray between arear of the body portion and a front, outer edge of the trough, andwherein in the closed position, the main panel covers the top of thetrough.
 2. The sliding tray of claim 1, wherein said cover furtherincludes first and second side walls depending from the first and secondside edges of the main panel.
 3. The sliding tray of claim 2, whereinthe first and second side walls are connected to the tray near ajunction of the body portion and the trough and, wherein when the coveris in the closed position, the main panel covers the trough but not thebody portion.
 4. The sliding tray of claim 1, wherein the front wallcomprises a labeling surface and including a lens covering the labelingsurface.
 5. The sliding tray of claim 1 including a detent for holdingthe cover in the open position.
 6. The sliding tray of claim 2 includingfirst and second spaced supports on the tray, each of the first andsecond spaced supports including an opening, each of the first andsecond side walls including a shaft extending into the opening on thefirst and second supports, respectively, wherein the first and secondside walls are mutually parallel and lie in planes perpendicular to themain panel of the tray.
 7. The sliding tray of claim 2, wherein saidtrough has a width between the body portion and the trough outer edgeand a length between first and second ends of the trough, and whereinthe first and second side walls of the cover are spaced from the frontwall of the cover by a gap.
 8. The sliding tray of claim 7, wherein thefront wall has a width in a direction from the first end of the troughto the second end of the trough less than a distance separating thefirst and second side walls of the cover.
 9. The sliding tray of claim7, including a plurality of optical communications modules mounted atthe one or more mounting locations and a plurality of optical fibersconnected to the plurality of optical communications modules, lying onthe trough and extending through the gap in the cover at the first endof the trough.
 10. The sliding tray of claim 1, wherein the coverincludes a labeling surface and including a lens covering the labelingsurface.
 11. The sliding tray of claim 10, wherein the front wall isperpendicular to the trough when the cover is in the closedconfiguration and wherein the front wall includes the labeling surfaceand wherein the lens is removably mounted to the front wall.
 12. Apivotable cover for a fiber-supporting trough of a sliding trayconfigured to support one or more optical communications modulescomprising: a main panel having a front edge, a rear edge and first andsecond side edges, a front wall depending from the front edge of themain panel and first and second parallel side walls depending from thefirst and second side edges of the main panel and extending rearwardlyof at least a portion of the rear edge of the main panel, the front wallbeing spaced from each of the first and second side walls by a gap,wherein the front wall comprises a labeling surface and including a lensmounted to the front wall, and wherein each of the first and second sidewalls includes a shaft.
 13. The pivotable cover of claim 12, wherein theshaft of the first side wall extends away from the first side wall todefine a pivot axis, and wherein the shaft of the second side wallextends away from the second side wall to also define the pivot axis.14. The pivotable cover of claim 13, wherein each of the shafts includesa feature for engaging an opening in the tray to form a detent forholding the cover in a predetermined orientation relative to the tray.15. A sliding tray configured to support one or more opticalcommunications modules comprising: a body portion having one or moremounting locations for the one or more optical communications modules; atrough projecting from a front of the body portion and configured tosupport optical fibers connected to the one or more opticalcommunications modules; a cover pivotably connected to the tray andselectively pivotable between an open position providing access to thetrough and a closed position covering the trough, wherein said coverincludes a main panel having a front edge, a rear edge and first andsecond side edges with a front wall depending from the front edge of themain panel, wherein the cover is connected to the tray between a rear ofthe body portion and an outer edge of the trough, wherein in the closedposition, the main panel covers the top of the trough, wherein saidcover further includes first and second side walls depending from thefirst and second side edges of the main panel, including first andsecond spaced supports on the tray, each of the first and second spacedsupports including an opening, each of the first and second side wallsincluding a shaft extending into the opening on the first and secondsupports, respectively, and including a detent for holding the cover inthe open position.
 16. The sliding tray of claim 15, wherein said troughhas a width between the body portion and the trough outer edge and alength between first and second ends of the trough, and wherein thefirst and second side walls of the cover are spaced from the front wallof the cover by a gap.
 17. The sliding tray of claim 16, including aplurality of optical communications modules mounted at the one or moremounting locations and a plurality of optical fibers connected to theplurality of optical communications modules, lying on the trough andextending through the gap in the cover at the first end of the trough.18. The sliding tray of claim 16, wherein the first and second sidewalls are connected to the tray near a junction of the body portion andthe trough and, wherein when the cover is in the closed position, themain panel covers the trough but not the body portion.
 19. The slidingtray of claim 16, wherein the front wall comprises a labeling surfaceand including a lens covering the labeling surface.
 20. The sliding trayof claim 16, wherein the first and second side walls are mutuallyparallel and lie in planes perpendicular to the main panel of the tray.